Allan Massie - Top-four spot must be aim for both Edinburgh and Glasgow

Published on Friday 22 August 2008 23:20

WITH Glasgow having returned from a successful pre-season trip to France, Edinburgh having ventured as far a Melrose for a day's training might they sometimes be persuaded to play the occasional match in the Borders the Kelso Sevens this weekend and Selkirk's next, summer is all but over, without having started, some might say, and the new rugby season is upon us.

A good deal is expected from both Edinburgh and Glasgow this year, in view of the progress made last season. Both must aim to be in the top four of the Magners, and so qualify for the play-offs being introduced, and one at least for the knock-out stage of the Heineken. Edinburgh, having passed the honour of a pool including Toulouse to Glasgow, have perhaps the better chance of doing so. That said, no one should doubt that the professional club game becomes more demanding every year. There are really no easy matches

Strength in depth is vital, and both Scottish clubs seem to have more of this than ever before, with keen competition for places in almost every position. The performance in the Churchill Cup of players like Edinburgh's MacDonald, Newlands,Turnbull, David Blair and Robertson, and Glasgow's Swindalls, McMillan, and Colin Gregor , none of them first choice for their club makes this point very clearly.

Yet of course their rivals in other countries are in the same position. Toulouse admittedly are exceptional: they have twenty-five internationalists in their squad, and at least half-a-dozen other players on the fringe of their national team. If Edinburgh have a choice of Phil Godman, Chris Paterson and David Blair at fly-half, Toulouse enjoy an even greater embarrassment of riches with Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Frederic Michalak and David Skrela competing for the number 10 jersey.

Again, both Edinburgh and Glasgow may reasonably feel that they are well provided for in the back-row, but Stade Francais have four international No 8s:

The Italian captain Sergio Parisse (who would surely have been selected for a composite Six Nations XV last season), our own Simon Taylor, Pierre Rabadan of France and the Argentinian Juan Manuel Leguizamon. Simon of course played quite a lot of last season at blindside flanker and may well have to do so again.

If Edinburgh and Glasgow have more strength in depth than ever before, it's also pleasing to see the number of Scots who will be playing their club rugby this year in England, France, Wales or Ireland. Not all of them will be automatic first-choice for their club. Nevertheless, one could assemble a pretty strong Scotland side from today's Exiles. Rory Lamont (Sale); Sean Lamont (Northampton), Marcus Di Rollo (still attached, I think, to Toulouse), Rob Dewey (Ulster), Nikki Walker (Ospreys); Gordon Ross (Saracens), Chris Cusiter (Perpignan) or Rory Lawson (Gloucester); Bruce Douglas (Montpellier), Scott Lawson (Sale), Craig Smith (Racing-Metro), Scott McLeod (Llanelli Scarlets) or Scott Murray (Montauban), Nathan Hines (Perpignan); Alastair Strokosch (Gloucester), Simon Taylor (Stade Francais), Andy Millar (Exeter).

That's on a quick survey, and no doubt I have omitted a few contenders. If there was space in the calendar for an old-fashioned Scottish trial, it would be very interesting to see that side matched against a XV of home Scots, drawn from Edinburgh and Glasgow. I doubt if anyone would confidently place money on a home victory, but even listing this team makes it clear that competition for the international side is now intense. Which is of course as it should be. I reckon there is no position for which there aren't a couple of real contenders, and in many there are three or even four. I can't recall this being the case before, except perhaps for a few years in the golden Eighties; and even that is doubtful.

All this is encouraging. It does raise the question however of how young players are to break through to the upper ranks of the pro game. There is the danger of a log-jam. It's therefore important that the clubs in the Premier Division show themselves willing, indeed eager, to make use of the pro team players assigned to them as possible whenever these are made available by Edinburgh or Glasgow. If Scottish rugby is to develop in the increasingly competitive international environment, then co-operation between the pro teams and the upper echelon of the amateur (in some cases, already semi-pro) club game is essential.

In many ways the outlook is much brighter than it has been for years. At the same time we have to realise that our rivals in the Six Nations are also making progress , and that here in Scotland we have to make a continuous improvement if we are not to lose ground. Indeed we have to run very hard just to keep up. And we have to do so with very much less in the way of resources – and , sadly, of public support – than other countries enjoy.